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Ebbsfleet U21s 2-3 Spurs

Joe Pritchard bagged a first-half brace as our Academy ran out 3-2 winners against a strong Ebbsfleet United Under-21s side in a friendly at Stonebridge Road on Tuesday night (April 26).

Striker Aramide Oteh was also on target and coach Kieran McKenna was impressed with the way our lads – primarily an Under-19s group – coped with taking on a more experienced outfit.

“Ebbsfleet had quite a lot of senior players involved so that will have been a different experience for most of our boys,” he said. “In their development it’s very important to have a variety of different experiences and tonight, playing at a non-league ground in front of a good crowd against a competitive, older side where some players have played in the Football League was a good test.

“I thought we stood up to the physical challenge well and managed to impose our quality on the ball. There was a feeling that we could have scored more at 3-1 – we were hoping to go on and make it more comfortable but they scored a really good goal to their credit. We didn’t really look in danger in terms of the result, though, and there were plenty of positives to take.”

Charlie Sheringham, son of Spurs legend Teddy, fired the Fleet ahead midway through the first half after an initial save from goalkeeper Tom Glover.

We restored parity on 36 minutes when Marcus Edwards was tackled just outside the box and Pritchard collected the loose ball, created space for a shot and pulled the trigger from 18 yards out. The goalkeeper got a touch but couldn’t keep the effort out.

Pritchard was there again to give us the lead a minute into first-half stoppage time as Edwards fed former Ebbsfleet youngster Shilow Tracey out on the right and his low ball across the box was converted by the midfielder.

We made wholesale changes at the break but carried on from where we’d left off as Oteh made it 3-1 within 60 seconds of the restart. He tucked the ball home after Jack Roles’ effort cannoned back off the inside of the post.

Oteh, Roles and Nathan Oduwa all saw good chances in the box go begging before a long-range strike on 66 minutes reduced the deficit for Ebbsfleet. There was to be no comeback from the hosts, though, and we saw out the game to claim victory.